Followed
by Traveler07
Summary: Cal deals with a moral problem. What I think one of the main conflicts of "Roadkill" the fifth book will be. 'T' for language.


This is what I picture being one of the main problems in Roadkill (the fifth Cal and Niko book for all those who don't know yet). I think that the vigil are at least going to be keeping an eye on Cal and our boys with have to deal with the moral issue of people vs. monsters. This is from Cal's perspective, I wrote it just for fun. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Cal Leandros series, it is property of Rob Thurman.

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They were there again. I could feel them, not like with the Auphe, but I knew that I was being watched.

This wasn't the first time I had been followed… and it wouldn't be the first time that I lost them. I took a deep breath of smoggy New York air and prepared to take the scenic route home, these bastards were great trackers and tough as hell to lose. It was going to be another late night.

I should be used to it by now though. I am always being followed… stalked. No matter how hard I train, no matter how much I run, no matter how much I try to become more clever or stronger I will always be prey. There was always something bigger, something badder. Hell, sometimes it was just numbers, that was what it was now. I could beat any one of these bastards if they tried to make a move, but I knew it wasn't just one, it was never just one because fate isn't uncaring, its cruel and sadistic. It hadn't taken me long to learn that much.

I sighed and reluctantly removed my hands from my pockets. I could all but here Nik's lecture "Always be ready, and have a weapon…." I didn't know much past that. Hey, I never claimed to have a good attention span.

I made sure not to glance behind me and let my stalkers know I was here. It was cold and I was really tempted to stick my hands back in my pockets but I didn't. I was also tempted to make a gate home. It would be so easy.

Something sinister stirred inside me, not quite awake but much more aware than it had been a moment ago. Yeah, no gating unless I had to, because if I disobeyed that rule I'd get my ass kicked double by my not so far beneath the surface hissing, clawing monster… and Nik. Both equally scary when mad. I pushed the monster back down and just kept moving. It's all you can do sometimes, just keep going.

Niko was still up cleaning his pointy toys at the table when I finally staggered into the apartment at "Oh fuck" o'clock in the morning.

"I assume you lost them" Super ninja didn't even have the grace to sound tired. I gave him a half hearted glare as I kicked off my shoes.

"Yeah, yeah they're gone." I said through a yawn. His face shifted minutely. No one but a brother would have been able to tell that he was relieved. It was just the shifting of the brow, a lightening of the eyes, but I could see it. I could always tell. He shifted his face towards me and his braid fell over his shoulder. It was a short braid but a braid nonetheless, I was glad. It would be much easier to tug now.

"Got in touch with Sam?" And there went the relief.

"No, but we will certainly be having an intense… conversation when I do find him." His voice was threaded with steel. Nik was pissed, but even more then he was pissed he was worried. The vigil had been following us for a while now. And when I say us I mean me. Nik was determined to find out why, but we both already knew why. It passed unspoken between us, a subtext to our conversations.

They were following me because they had decided. My little show back in the warehouse had tipped the scales from "well, I guess that Cal kid is alright" to "Hell, get out the suitcase nuke we're going Auphe hunting". I couldn't really blame them either. Hell, if I saw someone speaking Auphe, fighting like an Auphe, tasting Auphe blood I'd have wanted them put down too. Punk as kid or not, Auphe was Auphe and I was now undeniably Auphe.

Well, it was undeniable to everyone but Niko, king of delusions and master of denial. He was proof that love made you blind, because if he could see anything at all in that warehouse he would have to acknowledge that his little brother was a monster.

I had picked him up and thrown him off like he weighed nothing and I'd taken down an Auphe with speed I just didn't have… speed that no human had, not even Nik. For a moment Cal was gone and I was Caliban.

"Cal." Nik's voice shook me out of my thoughts. It was serious and forceful. He pinned me with steel colored eyes and my hateful thoughts slunk back to the dark corner of my mind where I pushed all my sickening memories.

"If you are tired enough to be dreaming when awake you should go to sleep." From the way he ran a finger along the now glistening blade of his sword I gathered that this was a command and not a request.

"Don't have to tell me twice, keep your pants on Cyrano I'm on my way." I had my back to him but I knew that he watched me as I walked back to my room. He wasn't the only one keeping an eye on me, but he was probably the only one who didn't want me dead. After all, the Auphe weren't dead, they still lived on in the blood of one half breed punk ass kid who one day might not be able to stop the monster that seethed inside of him… and the Vigil knew that just as well as I did.

I knew that we would have to fight them, Nik would always fight for me. The only trouble was that these weren't monsters. They were just people, and even though Nik's moral-o-meter was pretty fucking spot on he did have one major blind spot. Me. He would kill people for me, I knew it, just like Nik knew I was going to try to stop him. Not for the people, hell no, those bastards could rot as far as I care, but for Nik, because I knew that Nik would suffer and feel guilty.

I always watched my brother's back and he always watched mine. I just didn't know what to do now that we weren't against monsters, just people. Who knew that watching out for Nik's mind would be even more difficult than watching after his physical self.

I sighed and flopped on the bed face first. Even when the real monsters were gone I couldn't stop screwing Nik over. Maybe if I got him a dog he would take care of that instead and let me watch after him.

I grinned into my pillow and with that last gem of a thought on my mind drifted off to sleep.

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Hey! I hope that you liked it, let me know what you think, and also what you think the main conflict will be in Roadkill. :)


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